I think the reason behind this fall is the greed that infected as many businessmen in the United States. Is the U.S.A paying the price of power and control obsession? Is it the time that the country must stop and look back? A realistic pause could be helpful?

Reading all of this talk about the glories of socialism and its existence in American society is a bunch of hogwash. I highly recommend that you all take to heart Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom." Maybe after reading that I will take your discussion on the pragmatic nature of socialism somewhat seriously.

Question to the smart folksiest,Since we pay with our taxes lot of services that are provided by government we are Socialist to lol...Things that make the US a SOCIALIST:1. Army.2. Police.3. Firefighters.4. Senate, congress.5. Schools and teachers.6. Donations to Churches.7. Highways including the one outside your house and the interstate highways.8. Peace corp.9. Supreme court. etc...Please guys can you make this list longer? Probably I am forgetting some other corpsTo the smart folksiest who know how to blink their eyes...How can we replace these institutions to scape the horror or socialism hahaha?Maybe, private police? something like in mexico? Police charge you for their services..hahaahwhat about private army, we have tried in Irak, what was that called? Blackwater?lol...Health care?? Helloooooo 46 million uninsured and 100 million with half a.. coverage..nice job...How about charter schools? you gotta money you get someone to "learn you"lol...Tool roads?Supreme court..I think there are plenty preachers that will do a better job in making our awesome country a Christian Saudi Arabia...Please ideas more ideas...Did someone said by, for to the people?? How wrong was that eh.. OMG..? I think it should be, for by to the corporations...Folksiest is your duty to find the way to make Richie the rich, richer and the middle class smaller...come on guys some ideas...lol, we the middle class demand to enslave our selves to make happier our royalty...Regards!

Relax Folks,
Even if Kal's got it right and Obama's actually in the lead in this race, keep one thing in mind; the republic survived 8 years of Clinton. 8 years of Oprah in a suit. Warm, fuzzy feeling do-nothingness that ended with a stain on the White House(among other places).
More taxes,more government,less business,less money in your pay,all at the expense of the middle class as usual(regardless of what either candidate says)
We will survive.
Maybe even prosper, as our children wont be able to move out of the house before the age of 45,we can reap the benefit of unintended consequences and reintroduce the extended nuclear families of the pre-industrial past.

Guys...Have you all been to the whole Europe? Canada? Australia ? Japan? all are SOCIALIST... are people in those countries living bad in hunger dying on the streets??? NONONO..Americans do not understand the concept of socialism, the Soviet Union was not socialist, it was communist like the first commercial partner of the US -- /> "CHINA".Socialism is just a simple idea, free open business and government creates a safety network...3 to 4 weeks vacation a year, unemployment insurance, maternity license for at least 4 months a year, universal health care paid by your taxes, to this point an average American family pays 700 dollars a month in health care, yes 700, what is called benefist is part of your salary, Canadian pay 250, European /-300 dollars a month..in the US 46 million people with out health care, in the rest 100% of people cover...the US =preexisting conditions, the Universal Health care does not have that evil concept to deny attention called preexisting. conditions...STOP YOUR brain washed selfishness the only that you guys do being selfish is making the rich RICHER, and shooting your feet before starting the race. SOCIETY is a wide concept that includes you, your momma, your friends and neighbors...Is not about ME ME ME ME Selfish guy, that is what some guys do not get to this point, if you don't want to pay taxes, move to the mountains, get a gun and hunt your food, please don't water down this awesome society that is the US.

Here we are. For whatever reason, we have arrived, here, at this stunning, unprecedented historical moment. Barack Obama and John McCain: running in as proxies for the new and the old. The birthing of a new era? The continuation of an old? They pop into our laps out of nowhere; allowing us to witness a radical reconfiguring, if you will, or a stubborn continuation. Which shall it be? We will find out soon enough!

@james_"could cause a currency run is (1) massive government spending and (2) competent Euro fiscal policy. Though #1 is assured by a President Obama and a Democratic Congress (another reason to vote for McCain),"how are you so sure of this? i would be more skeptical of mccain following the "cut all spending except for defense" line of thought that plundered the country's surplus. its a damn shame there hasent been a REAL fiscally conservative president to come out of the republican power base for years. "but I'd bet that by 2020, Europeans will once again bemoan American hegemony, and America will sadly remain alone in providing innovation, security, and prosperity to the rest of the world."and whos gonna supply the oil, the exports, the knowledge base, or the bare labor?

Universal Health care will contaminate the ME ME ME ME selfish culture...I have no idea the reason that people called the US a Society, it should be called INDIVIDUALiety...or something like that lol...Go Hillary!!!

I don't think candidats are diferents, in a real sense. The real thing is the social dinamic of this wonderful society that is the US. Once the politics had given to the richs what they want, normal people will jump in revelion because now they are better informed (via internet, specialy the youngs, our hope), to build a more democratic society, with a lower Gini index economy...

Agree with James and withybrush. My confidence in the American economy is not dented. There are many many admirable things about the country; innovative technologies, excellent companies, excellent universities and research institutes, sound political system, openness and frankness, freedom, dynamism - - -; which you can see nowhere else. Naturally, there are other things which are not so admirable. Just to name a few: over consumption, excessive reliance on credit and negative savings, which are at the bottom of the negative trade balance, current account deficit and the on-going financial crisis; extravagant use of energy and resources and the high per-capita CO2 emission polluting the world. A behavioural change is called for. Other amazes: how can they not put in place a reasonable health care system, while the rest of the developed world has been doing it for a long time!?; why does the country continue to be so violent?; why such disparity between the rich and the poor? --- I sincerely hope that America will become a bit more civil place.

I agree wholeheartedly with James_.I'd like to add that this talk of "crisis" and the "fall of the US Empire" is almost entirely the creation of mass media. With updates, pundit scream-offs, and "analysis" 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the average American has got to thinking that his country is tanking. The media loves the negative, and though we are in quite a pickle, a lot of the frenzy is due to exaggeration and ratings-wars between major networks, and sadly, some print publications.I do not intend to understate neither the problems nor the amount of problems the US has today. Economically, politically, and socially, we are certainly not at peak performance. However, the message media executives has been thrusting upon Americans to, essentially, "panic panic panic" for more than a year now must have an influence on these changes, especially economic ones. The American animal is a resilient one, as both James_ and Lonewolf note, and I hope that, once a new president graces the upholstery of the Oval Office, the United States will be able to find peace and balance both internally and externally.

"While good for the rest of the world, too bad that Obama is going to make it to the presidency at the end of the US empire. I can only imagine how many of the people that won't vote for him will blame him for giving it up and letting the US slip into "normal" country status..."But they will vote for him, my friend. And he will lead the resurgence of this great, and very resilient country.

The comic is great, but rumors of America's demise have been greatly exaggerated. The worst-case economic scenario remains a run on the currency. The $5.7 trillion in bailouts are not likely to cause a run on their own, in part because most of the debt is backed by mortgage assets. What could cause a currency run is (1) massive government spending and (2) competent Euro fiscal policy. Though #1 is assured by a President Obama and a Democratic Congress (another reason to vote for McCain), I doubt the Europeans are capable of ensuring #2 before Americans regain fiscal constraint and sanity. Even if Obama fulfills expectations as another Jimmy Carter, don't forget that Carter's incompetence was limited to four years. I look forward to the rise of Europe and China as world economic powers and forces of stabilization as much as anyone, but I'd bet that by 2020, Europeans will once again bemoan American hegemony, and America will sadly remain alone in providing innovation, security, and prosperity to the rest of the world.